It Just Makes Sense.
Years ago, when I decided that I had had enough of being fat, sick and unfulfilled, I went on a diet. Let me re-phrase that. I went on DIETS. Lots of them. Everything from Richard Simmons to cabbage soup for weeks. The only things I did not try was surgery or swallowing a tape worm cyst. But, that is not the focus of this writing. If you want to read more about my fun and follies with attempting to lose weight, go here.
So, my slow evolution had begun. Lose weight, gain weight. Rinse. Repeat. Do it again. And again, and again. Even exploring the world of bodybuilding didn't yield the great results that I had hoped for. All that did was create huge swings in my weight, fry my adrenals and give me some body image issues that were tough to overcome. Went, Did it. Got the posing suit.
I continued to look for a better way. Something sustainable. Something that would help me to lose weight and maintain it without turning into a starving, cooler packing, obsessed woman who smells like broccoli. Not only that, I wanted to be able to go the the doctor and get a clean bill of health at the age of 40, 45, 50, 60 and beyond. Plus, to really put on the pressure, I did not want to have to take drugs of any kind to be healthy OR happy. I want to age well. I decided that I do not want to be "50 and forgettable". I want to ride horses in the Sierra Madres when I am 65. I do not want to be suffering from aches and pains and spending a lot of time in doctor's offices when I am 70. Of course, I still want to be drug free and healthy while I'm doing all of this. But, I'm not demanding...
Enter the Paleo diet. I was reading books by people who seemed to have these crazy ideas about eating the way that nature intended us to. Hmmm... nature. Something that we seem to forget that we are still a part of. This way of eating involves consuming food that our bodies recognize as food, instead of eating the junk that is marketed to us as food. Remember, anthropological evidence shows that from a nutritional viewpoint, we have not changed genetically for thousands of years.
We have been told that meat is bad. Then it is good, but not red meat. That is still bad. But it's better than pork, and make sure you don't eat more than 120 grams of fish a week or you risk heavy metal contamination. Eggs are good for you, then they aren't, then they are. Fruit has too much fructose. Veggies lack nutrients and are covered in toxic spray. Organic stuff is rumoured to be not much better.
But, a bottle of Diet Pepsi, that chemical concoction, sports a "Health Check" label. Seriously, go look sometime. It started to become apparent to me where we have gone off the rails.
We are told that the pinnacle of health will be reached if we eat and drink things made of soy... most of which is genetically modified and subjected to intense chemical processes to make it palatable to humans. It is also near the top of the list of "things that most people are allergic to". Read this.
There are food scientists at work right now, all over the world who know stuff about us. They know how our brains are wired and what is attractive to us. Shapes, colours, texture, smell, taste. They can make us crave after a piece of plastic. Gummy bears, anyone?
At the same time, there are marketing wizards at work right now, all over the world who know more stuff about us. They know how to market junk to us so that we want to have it. They know the target markets for any product and they know when and where to advertise it. Not too many diaper commercials on during the Super Bowl.
So, we are told not to eat foods that contain naturally occurring fats, carbs and proteins. We are told to eat seasoned styrofoam instead. We are encouraged to give our kids chocolate icing for breakfast, because it is "healthy"... ahhh Nutella. Actually, icing has proven to be a better nutritional choice.
In the meantime, behaviour problems are on the rise in our kids, and this generation is expected to have a shorter life expectancy. Young people are being affected by things that used to affect middle aged people. Middle aged people are having their arteries drilled out and stents installed. Today's seniors are taking handfuls of pills and are afflicted with multiple maladies. I wonder what the next generation of seniors lives will be like? The generation after that? Does any of this make sense?
Returning to the species appropriate diet that we as humans are meant to eat just makes sense. There is overwhelming scientific evidence of exactly what that diet was, and we can still nicely replicate it in our modern world. And no... Pop Tarts and runny, artificially flavoured yogurt were not part of it.
So, my slow evolution had begun. Lose weight, gain weight. Rinse. Repeat. Do it again. And again, and again. Even exploring the world of bodybuilding didn't yield the great results that I had hoped for. All that did was create huge swings in my weight, fry my adrenals and give me some body image issues that were tough to overcome. Went, Did it. Got the posing suit.
I continued to look for a better way. Something sustainable. Something that would help me to lose weight and maintain it without turning into a starving, cooler packing, obsessed woman who smells like broccoli. Not only that, I wanted to be able to go the the doctor and get a clean bill of health at the age of 40, 45, 50, 60 and beyond. Plus, to really put on the pressure, I did not want to have to take drugs of any kind to be healthy OR happy. I want to age well. I decided that I do not want to be "50 and forgettable". I want to ride horses in the Sierra Madres when I am 65. I do not want to be suffering from aches and pains and spending a lot of time in doctor's offices when I am 70. Of course, I still want to be drug free and healthy while I'm doing all of this. But, I'm not demanding...
Enter the Paleo diet. I was reading books by people who seemed to have these crazy ideas about eating the way that nature intended us to. Hmmm... nature. Something that we seem to forget that we are still a part of. This way of eating involves consuming food that our bodies recognize as food, instead of eating the junk that is marketed to us as food. Remember, anthropological evidence shows that from a nutritional viewpoint, we have not changed genetically for thousands of years.
We have been told that meat is bad. Then it is good, but not red meat. That is still bad. But it's better than pork, and make sure you don't eat more than 120 grams of fish a week or you risk heavy metal contamination. Eggs are good for you, then they aren't, then they are. Fruit has too much fructose. Veggies lack nutrients and are covered in toxic spray. Organic stuff is rumoured to be not much better.
But, a bottle of Diet Pepsi, that chemical concoction, sports a "Health Check" label. Seriously, go look sometime. It started to become apparent to me where we have gone off the rails.
We are told that the pinnacle of health will be reached if we eat and drink things made of soy... most of which is genetically modified and subjected to intense chemical processes to make it palatable to humans. It is also near the top of the list of "things that most people are allergic to". Read this.
There are food scientists at work right now, all over the world who know stuff about us. They know how our brains are wired and what is attractive to us. Shapes, colours, texture, smell, taste. They can make us crave after a piece of plastic. Gummy bears, anyone?
At the same time, there are marketing wizards at work right now, all over the world who know more stuff about us. They know how to market junk to us so that we want to have it. They know the target markets for any product and they know when and where to advertise it. Not too many diaper commercials on during the Super Bowl.
So, we are told not to eat foods that contain naturally occurring fats, carbs and proteins. We are told to eat seasoned styrofoam instead. We are encouraged to give our kids chocolate icing for breakfast, because it is "healthy"... ahhh Nutella. Actually, icing has proven to be a better nutritional choice.
In the meantime, behaviour problems are on the rise in our kids, and this generation is expected to have a shorter life expectancy. Young people are being affected by things that used to affect middle aged people. Middle aged people are having their arteries drilled out and stents installed. Today's seniors are taking handfuls of pills and are afflicted with multiple maladies. I wonder what the next generation of seniors lives will be like? The generation after that? Does any of this make sense?
Returning to the species appropriate diet that we as humans are meant to eat just makes sense. There is overwhelming scientific evidence of exactly what that diet was, and we can still nicely replicate it in our modern world. And no... Pop Tarts and runny, artificially flavoured yogurt were not part of it.